04 MARCH 2015

Davis Believes He Is An Avoided Fighter

Super featherweight hopeful Mark "Too Sharp" Davis believes he is gaining a reputation for being one of the most avoided fighters in his division, and possibly even the surrounding weight classes as well. It’s not difficult to understand what it is about Davis that fighters find so uninviting because no fighter wants to be the least dangerous man in the ring, but that is the harsh reality that potential opponents face when contemplating a fight with Davis.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Davis collected over 200 victories in the amateurs before turning pro in 2007. Now, with an undefeated professional record of (16-0, 5 KOs) Davis is ready to step up his competition, the problem is he’s been met with hesitation from certain fighters and it has proven difficult to secure a fight with an opponent who has presumably seen Davis in action.

Terence Crawford (19-0, 15 KOs), a highly touted prospect in his own right, became the most recent fighter to dodge a showdown with Davis. The two fighters were working towards inking a deal and Davis, who is an unsigned free agent, had expressed his strong desires for making the fight a reality. The deal would’ve been easy to make from Davis’ side of things based on the fact that he doesn’t have a promotional company to muddy up the waters, yet it wasn’t to be and you have to assume that it was more of a question of Crawford’s unwillingness to step up to the plate.

"I was game, I wanted this fight and I thought it was going to happen," Davis expressed. "I don’t know what it is, but I can tell you that this fight isn’t happening and it has nothing to do with me. The hesitancy isn’t coming from my end of things, Eddy can only do so much and at the end of the day we can’t force anyone to do something that they’re terrified of doing. I can understand that because I don’t know if I’d step into the ring with me either, not if I wanted to keep winning."

Although Davis is a promotional free agent he is advised by Eddy Marin and Marin has guided Davis very precisely and has come up with a premeditated game plan for bringing Davis along in his career thus far.

"He’s ready to move up to the next level of competition. Mark has expressed to me that he is willing to fight anyone who is willing to fight him, even if that means moving up to 135lbs. He was ready to move up to 135 to fight Crawford, but I guess that wasn’t enough for Crawford to risk his status against a superior fighter like Mark," Marin said.

Speaking about his promotional free situation Davis commented: "I have the luxury of coming to terms for a fight fairly easy because I don’t have anyone dictating my decisions. Eddy and I are on the same page, we have goals we’re looking to accomplish and I will make sure that my future opponents don’t have to worry about the red tape when it comes to getting a deal done. I just want to fight and I’m looking for an opponent that shares my passion for the sport."